Another Fire
by Lyselle
Summary: A long time after the war, Gale Hawthorne comes back for a short visit, but his visit will change the Girl on Fire's daughter's life. The Hawthornes and Everdeens were doomed to be apart, but that theory just may prove to be false.
1. Chapter 1

_**Another Fire**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the Hunger Games, although I'd like to. <strong>

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><p>"Watch out," someone said, almost directly into my ear.<p>

Startled, I jumped a little. I didn't even hear the person sneak up on me, and taking that as a bad sign, I whirled around and tried to catch a glimpse of the person who had given me the warning. I caught a flash of black hair and in doing so, tripped over the very thing I had been warned about, a loose stone. I fell disgracefully, flat onto my face. I lay just like that for a good 30 seconds, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Just as I was about to attempt to stand up, I felt someone cautiously grab both of my shoulders and pull me to my feet.

"Thanks," I said sheepishly, brushing myself off and tucking loose hair behind my ear.

I turned around to properly see my savior. To my surprise, though, there was no one behind me. And I hadn't heard anyone walk away. _Poof. _One second they were helping me up and the next they were gone. Scanning the crowds in the town square, I caught sight of a dark-haired, tall boy my age, walking quickly through the throngs of people. I blinked, and he disappeared out of my sight. That couldn't have possibly been enough time for him to get anywhere far. _Definitely weird._

I practically ran to the grocer's to fetch the eggs my dad had told me to get. "Hi, Essa." I greeted the blond-haired girl behind the counter as I walked in. Essa was the grocer's daughter, and the only other person that was my exact age in our district. She looked up from the magazine she was reading.

"Hey Ruella," Essa replied. "Does your dad need something again?"

"Eggs," I said, smiling, "He was about to bake a cake for Gabriel's birthday tomorrow, but he forgot to buy all of the ingredients."

Essa took as long as she possibly could to pick out five eggs, making a big show of inspecting them and checking them for cracks so that we would have more time to talk. "Did you see that new guy? He's around our age," Essa asked me, finally placing the first egg into a paper bag.

"What new guy?" I asked, but my mind immediately went to the dark-haired guy who had helped me up.

"Tall, black hair. Gray or blue eyes, I couldn't tell."

"I think I saw him," I said.

"Yeah, well, he came to buy milk and bread. He doesn't talk much, but I managed to get some information out of him." I laughed at that. It was just like Essa to interrogate any stranger who walked into the store.

"Well?" I prodded.

"His name's Ray, he's 16, and he came from District 2," Essa recited.

"Family?"

"Didn't say." Essa finished, putting the last egg into a paper bag. "You'd better go now. Dad's gonna get mad at me for holding the business up," Essa said, gesturing towards a few other customers who'd wandered in.

"Bye," I called over my shoulder as I went. I quickly walked home, knowing very well that I was supposed to have been back a good fifteen earlier than right now. As soon as I got home, I put down the bag of eggs on the counter and took off my shoes.

"Mom?" I called out from the kitchen, bracing myself for a lecture on being irresponsible. A few seconds later, my younger brother, Gabriel, walked into the kitchen.

"Shhh!" he hissed, "Mom and Dad are arguing." He signaled for me to get down on my knees. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on," he insisted impatiently, "Do you want to know what's happening or not?" With a small sigh, I obediently got down on all fours. With Gabriel in front, we both carefully crawled out of the kitchen and towards the living room. Feeling pretty stupid, I crawled faster to get in front of Gabriel and knelt right outside of the living room entrance.

_No fair_, Gabriel mouthed_, I was supposed to be first._ I shrugged and put a finger to my lips.

"Him? Here? Oh my god, no, I can't see him," my mother cried shrilly, and my dad immediately shushed her, mumbling something comfortingly to her.

"You're not kidding, are you? He's really here? In District 12?" my mom asked after a slight pause, her voice having a slight undertone of hopefulness. Mostly, though, she just sounded angry, as if whoever she was talking about should've gotten permission from her before setting foot in the district.

"Yes, Katniss, he's here," my dad replied in the gentle tone that he saved for my mother's fits. "You don't have to see him if you don't want to, okay? It's your choice."

"So Gale Hawthorne's back home," my mother whispered so softly, I barely caught the words. _Gale Hawthorne._ I'd heard that name before, in a discussion on the war in class, and several times from my mother. When Gabriel was younger, I remembered she would always slip up and call him Gale by accident, and she'd scream for someone named Gale quite a lot in her nightmares.

"Why don't we go to bed?" Dad suggested gently. I could hear Mom mutter a reply, and there was a series of creaks that signaled they were getting up from the sofa. I turned to warn Gabriel to flee, but he was already gone, feverishly crawling down the hallway towards his bedroom. The little traitor. I would've laughed at him at any other time, except that I was about to get in major trouble for eavesdropping if I didn't find a way to subtly escape in the next thirty seconds. _Think, Ruella, think._I finally settled for getting up and dashing to my room, but my dad was out of the living room before I could attempt that.

His blue eyes, the same color as mine, widened when he saw me. "Go to bed, Ruella," he said, shooting me a look that said _we'll talk about this later._

I nodded gratefully. I wasn't in trouble, at least for now. I ran to my room, trying not to look at my mother, who was looking more vulnerable than ever. For the past few weeks, she'd been having these fits where she'd lock herself in her room and either cry or sit silently for hours, not even letting Dad in. Gabriel and I had actually had to pry the bedroom window open from the outside to see what the heck was going on. But right now she looked even worse than when she'd come out of her fits. Her face was completely red, her eyes swollen and puffy. Her black braid was disheveled and falling apart.

I almost rolled my eyes at her, _almost. _But then I reminded myself of what my mother had been through when she was only a year older than me, and I managed to suppress the urge.

Once I was in my room, I opened up the simple brown canvas bag I used for school. I took out my textbook, and flipped to the table of contents. I ignored the entries for _Katniss Everdeen _and _Peeta Mellark_, and scanned the page for Gale Hawthorne's name. I finally found his name, and there was only two or three pages of information on him, compared to the twenty or so pages on my mother and father. It made me uncomfortable in class to see everyone talking about my parents as if they knew them personally. "Katniss Everdeen was the Mockingjay, the leader of the rebellion. Such a brave soul. The Girl on Fire, she was called," my teacher would say, choosing her words carefully, knowing that Katniss Everdeen's daughter was sitting amongst her students.

I actually snorted out loud at that. Brave soul? The Girl on Fire? If only they could see their Girl on Fire at home, and see the mess she had become. Gabriel and I had practically raised ourselves. While our parents tried their hardest to support us and help us, they just couldn't. They had just experienced so much horror, so many things I couldn't imagine enduring at my age, that they were both slightly insane and emotional wrecks. When I was little, my father would have fits where he thought my mother was an evil mutt, and he would have to hang on to a piece of furniture to help clear his head.

My mother would wake up screaming in the night, waking up both me and Gabriel. When we went to see what had happened, my dad would gently shoo us away and tell us to go back to sleep. Eventually, Gabriel and I got used to the outbursts and fits, and they became part of our routine.

Gabriel still didn't know all about the Hunger Games, since he was only in seventh grade. I, however, knew a little too much for my liking. I had recently been allowed by my dad to see the tapes of the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, the ones my parents participated in. They were horrifying and cruel. I looked away whenever an innocent kid was being killed, or when my parents were cuddling a little too close to each other for my taste. _Gale Hawthorne. _My mother had also screamed for him in the 75th Hunger Games when some mutts were playing his screams, along with my mother's dead sister and mother.

My textbook told me that Gale Hawthorne had been the mastermind behind the plan to blow up the Nut in District 2. There was a bunch of information about the different weapons he had designed, but none of it helped me figure out his relationship to my parents, specifically my mother. Going to bed that night, I made a mental note to start an investigation of my own, starting with an old woman named Greasy Sae that my mom had known when she was young.

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><p><strong>Reviews are appreciated! Don't hesitate to criticize me, I'm looking for ways to improve on my writing.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

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><p>"School starts in two weeks," Essa said with a sigh. We were both lying in the Meadow, side by side with our hands laced behind our necks.<p>

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss summer," I said, blowing a few strands of black hair out of my eyes. "Hey, are you coming to Gabriel's party tonight?" Essa's little brother, Dayton, was Gabriel's age, and they were also best friends.

"Yeah. My mom and dad said they could make it, too." We were silent after that, both of us contentedly looking up at the sky, enjoying these last days of freedom. Our silence was quickly broken by an arrow that randomly shot out of the nearby woods and lodged itself by Essa's side, missing her by barely two inches. Essa shrieked and scrambled away from the area, Essa's shrieks startled me and made me scream, and a deep voice echoed from the woods.

"Hey, did I hit anyone? Are you okay?" A boy ran out of the woods, running in me and Essa's direction.

"That's the Ray guy," Essa hissed at me, quickly straightening up. She patted down her hair and smoothed out her dress, trying not to look as freaked out as she probably felt. I gave her a funny look, wondering why the sight of a near stranger would make her do that.

I immediately realized Essa's reason for collecting herself like that. As soon as Ray walked into my view, I realized how strikingly handsome he was. He was well over six feet tall, with a defined jaw and high cheekbones, dark hair and light eyes that I could now see were gray. "You forgot to mention his looks," I whispered to Essa while Ray was still far enough away not to hear us. Essa shrugged, but I could see the faintest of blushes tint her cheeks pink.

"Are you two okay?" Ray asked sheepishly, even though it was obvious now that neither me or Essa had gotten hurt. An awkward silence took place, and even usually chatty Essa was tongue-tied.

"So, what were you doing out there?" I finally asked, and Ray looked up from kicking the dirt.

"I hunt out here," he replied simply. This guy clearly did not talk a lot.

"That's cool. My mother used to hunt, too," I said, the words slipping out before I could take them back.

"Oh," Ray replied, "Can you hunt?"

"Yeah," I said, wincing inwardly as soon as I said it. That was a huge lie. My mother had tried to teach me how to hunt numerous times, but I was too loud and clumsy for hunting and ended up scaring all of the game away. I had absolutely zero hunting skills. I expected Ray to drop the subject, since he didn't seem like a very social person, but instead his eyes lit up, and he actually continued talking.

"We could go hunting sometime together. It's kinda lonely out there alone," Ray said. Why did the only thing he seemed to be interested in talking about have to be hunting?

"Of course," I replied, flashing him my best smile. He continued to talk to me about different types of traps and bows and arrows and snares, while I tried to make intelligent comments about everything. Even though I was the one conversing with him, Ray's gaze flitted to Essa every few minutes, and I got the feeling Ray was only continuing the conversation to sneak looks at her. Essa was lying lazily in the grass, as if she knew that Ray was watching her. I felt the need to outshine Essa, to make Ray pay more attention to me, so I did the worst thing I possibly could.

"Hey, let's go hunting tomorrow. You can choose the time and place," I said. I knew it was a big mistake, but I didn't care at the moment, just as long as Ray didn't keep looking at Essa.

"How about right here, at about seven? My father told me that's always the time he used to hunt," Ray said, finally cracking a smile. I felt a surge of triumph as I saw Essa frown a bit, not wanting to be left out. She opened her mouth to say something, probably, _I want to come too_, or something like that, but I dragged her away before she could say anything.

"See you!" I called out, linking my arm with Essa's and acting as if nothing was wrong. Ray nodded and headed back into the woods after retrieving his arrow, probably to go back home.

"What was that?" Essa asked me angrily as soon as were out on the path to town to drop Essa off.

"Nothing," I said as nonchalantly as I could, but my own mind was racing with the same question. _Oh my god, Ruella, you stupid little liar. How are you going to hunt with Ray when you own mother gave up on teaching you? What am I supposed to do now? You can't just improvise tomorrow. _

Essa stepped back a bit to glare at me, and the sunset cast pinkish light over her, and for the first time I realized just how pretty she was. Her curly, almost flawless golden hair framed an oval face with light greenish blue eyes, and she had long eyelashes that almost touched her eyebrows. No wonder Ray was staring at her and not me. "You were flirting with him," Essa said accusingly.

"I was not_._"

"Was too."

"Was _not_!"

"Don't deny it, Ruella."

"But I wasn't!" I insisted. I really wasn't. Had it sounded that way? Gosh, then Ray probably thought I was just a silly, giggly girl. With no hunting skills, as he would quickly realize tomorrow. Then another thought occurred to me as I took notice of Essa's pout.

"You're _jealous_."

"Am NOT!" Essa shrieked louder than me. Her eyes widened, realizing her mistake.

"Are too!" I said, chuckling. "See you at the party!" I called over my shoulder, walking towards my house and ignoring Essa's cries of denial.

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><p>The party was in full swing by seven that evening.<p>

Boys were running everywhere, yelling and poking each other, throwing things around and generally making a giant mess of the place. My father was working on finishing cooking the food, the aroma of it flooding the entire house. My mother and Essa's mother, Mrs. Relley, were setting the table. Mr. Relley was trying to keep the pack of boys under control so that they didn't actually burn the house to the ground.

Essa and I were decorating cupcakes with all different colors of frosting and a million different types of candies and sprinkles. We had frosting on our noses and faces, and Essa stuck sprinkles on top of the frosting, making us both look like desserts ourselves. We were laughing and having a good time ourselves, our little argument forgotten.

When the table was finally organized and all of Gabriel's friends were each sitting calmly in chair, dad brought out the cake, and I followed with the cupcakes. Mom stuck a candle in the middle of the cake and lit it up, looking more cheerful and worry-free than she ever had before. All of us started singing happy birthday off key to Gabriel, and just as he was about to blow out the candle and cut the cake, the doorbell rang.

Everyone froze for a moment, expecting someone else to go and answer the door. Then all at once, my mom, Gabriel, dad, and I went for the door. "I'm gonna get it! It's my birthday!" Gabriel yelled, and mom let him, while the impatient boys started attacking me and Essa's cupcakes, devouring them all within minutes.

"Is Katniss there?" I heard a man ask, and I could hear Gabriel ask him who he was. I didn't hear the reply though, and Gabriel yelled from the door.

"Moooom! It's for you!" My mother furrowed her eyebrows, looking at my dad, who in turn shrugged and nudged her towards the door. The cupcakes were all gone and the kids were eyeing the cake now.

It was silent as we all listened to my mother's footsteps fading down the the hallway. "Oh. My. God," my mother gasped from the door as soon as she got there, and my dad and I both ran there at the same time, afraid that mom would start hyperventilating and have another fit.

My dad reached the door first, and the person outside of it was obscured from my vision. I could see my dad visibly tense though, as a medium sized package wrapped in blue paper was handed to him.

"Gale," my dad greeted, his voice expressionless. My mother whimpered and leaned on the door for support.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, guys! Suggestions, ideas, comments, and criticism are always welcome :D <strong>

**Check out my other story, While I Live, too, if you like :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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><p>I shoved ahead of my dad to get to see this Gale Hawthorne guy. I froze for a minute, staring at Gale Hawthorne in disbelief, frowning slightly. He looked <em>exactly <em>like Ray, everything from the dark hair and gray eyes to the high cheekbones and freakishly long eyelashes, but just slightly older and more worn out. He had worry lines on his forehead and around his eyes that shouldn't have been there until he was fifty or something. Ray was quite obviously his son.

"Make him go away, please," my mother cried into my dad's side, beating him with her fists weakly.

"I guess I'll be going then," Gale (I didn't know what else to call him. Uncle Gale? Mr. Hawthorne?) said uncomfortably, shifting his weight between his feet.

"Come in, come in. Katniss'll be okay," my dad said, even though his heart wasn't in his words.

"No, I'll go. Bye then," Gale said more firmly, turning. At that moment, my mother's frail arm reached out to stop him. She seemed to have recovered from whatever emotion had plagued her the moment before, and now her eyes burned with something I couldn't quite read. I wondered what Gale Hawthorne could have possibly done to my mom to make her call out for him in her sleep, and yet make her cry when she finally saw him in person. Their relationship wasn't becoming any clearer, especially since I had forgotten all about my investigation with Greasy Sae. I looked between them both as a moment of silence passed. Eerily, it seemed as though my mom and Gale were communicating just by staring at each other.

"I'll stay. Just for a few minutes," Gale said hesitantly, breaking eye contact with my mother.

My dad's gaze flitted to me, and he finally seemed to realize I was there. At the same moment, Gale's gaze also landed on me for a second, and his eyes filled with a sadness so deep for a moment that it made my heart twist. "Ruella, go send the boys outside," my dad hissed, nudging me towards the dining table.

Pausing, I stood for another moment until another insistent nudge from my dad sent me off. When I arrived in the dining room, nearly all of the food on the table was gone, and Mr. and Mrs. Relley were sitting there patiently, looking a bit bewildered. Essa looked at me, and I mouthed _later_. Essa nodded.

I went up to Gabriel and whispered in his ear. "Take your friends out into town for a bit. We have a guest." Gabriel nodded immediately, seeming glad for an excuse to get out of the house. The boys all herded out the front door just as Gale, my mother, and Peeta walked in.

Mr. Relley's eyes widened when he saw our guest, and he immediately stood up. "Gale?" he asked in disbelief. Gale looked equally surprised.

"Thom? It's been a while," Gale said, recovering. Mr. Relley, or Thom as Gale knew him, laughed sadly, and he had a word with Gale before fetching Mrs. Relley and leaving, promising to visit Gale soon. How did everyone know this guy? Why had the existence of Gale Hawthorne been kept secret from me?

Mrs. Relley looked equally shocked to see Gale in the house, and kept glancing back as she walked towards the door. It seemed as if she couldn't believe he was actually here. My frustration kept growing. _What the hell is going on? _

"Peeta, why don't you go work on your paintings?" my mother said, turning towards my dad. My dad took the not- so-subtle hint, and asked her once if she would be alright. My mother nodded and shooed him away into his painting studio, a spare room filled with paints and brushes and canvases.

I hurried off into the hallway before my mother could tell me to go away too, and waited until I was sure Gale and my mom were seated in the living room before getting down onto my knees Gabriel style. I crawled as silently as I could towards the living room entrance the same way I'd done yesterday, trying to avoid the random pieces of food and decorations splayed on the floor. I crouched outside of the entrance, concentrating extra hard to hear every word. I vaguely wondered if I should've brought pen and paper with me.

"Why are you here?" my mom asked Gale, getting straight to the point. _Nice greeting, _I thought_, First you start hyperventilating when you see him, then you beg for him to go away, then you tell him to stay, and the poor man doesn't even get a hello. _

"I came to visit my friends, and I'm on business again. There's a few things the TV station wanted me to check out," Gale replied defensively.

"Liar," my mother said, with a slight chuckle,"That can't be all."

Gale didn't even bother to deny what my mom just said. "We never could keep anything from each other," he said softly. I absorbed all of the words eagerly.

There was a long silence.

"The last time I saw you was when you crashed my wedding," my mother spoke, "That was twenty something years ago. Why didn't you come back sooner?" I was seriously starting to think my mother was totally insane. She was questioning Gale's motives for coming back one minute, and the next she was asking why he didn't come back sooner.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me. It's not like you were thrilled last time," Gale replied sarcastically.

"I wasn't that horrible to you, Gale."

"You tried to kill me, Catnip. Literally." _My mother tried to freaking kill him?_ And Catnip? The conversation got more bizarre by the minute.

There was a pause. "I'm sorry," Gale sighed.

"For what?" my mother asked in way that made me think she already knew the answer.

"For... her."

"For who?"

"Stop playing dumb, Katniss. I know you still hate me. I know you don't want me here. Why are you still talking to me?" Gale asked, exasperated.

"You can say her name, you know," my mother snapped, "It's not like saying the fact that you killed Prim out loud will change anything." There was a shocked silence from Gale's side. The gears in my mind were rapidly whirling. My mother had told me Prim was my aunt, who'd died in the war. I'd never bothered to ask specifics. Oh god, had Gale really killed her?

"I didn't kill her, Katniss," Gale said quietly, answering my question.

"Who did, then? Huh Gale? Who killed her then?" my mother said, her voice rising.

"They weren't my bombs!" Gale yelled, "I tried to tell you that last time I saw you, but you shot a freaking arrow into my shoulder!"

"Whose were they? Why don't you tell me that, Hawthorne!" my mother screamed back. I debated whether I should continue to eavesdrop or make sure that my mother didn't fall into another fit. I decided to eavesdrop for a bit more. Their conversation was finally starting to make sense to me, at least a tiny bit.

"Beetee's! God, Katniss, you're so thick! You blamed me from the start! Did you ever give me a chance to explain?" Gale argued, still yelling.

"You ran off to District 2 without telling me! How do you think I felt? You left when I needed you!" my mother screamed shrilly, her voice cracking. I was frozen to my spot now, and I wouldn't have been able to move if I wanted to. I felt guilty for listening in to their argument now, but I would just make it worse by randomly walking in and trying to help. _Where's dad right now? _I thought frantically. _Can't he hear all the racket? _

"I saw the look in your eyes that day, Katniss. Remember when I handed you that last arrow? I could already tell you would never forgive me! You already established the connection between me and Prim without bothering to do a fact check! How do you think I felt?"

My mother was silent.

"Horrible! I felt freaking horrible and sick of myself and I would've killed myself if it weren't for Posy and the others," Gale continued yelling, answering his own question.

"I had to go away. I didn't want to disturb you Katniss," Gale's voice was suddenly soft, as if he'd run out of steam. My mother started crying. _Oh my god, please, please don't cry, _I thought, _I've already seen enough of my mother's tears._

"Hey," Gale said softly, in a suddenly tender voice. "Hey." The way he said it, I realized that my mother and Gale Hawthorne had most likely been more than friends in the past. I felt my cheeks redden with embarrassment for some reason, and I slowly inched away from the living room entrance, finally having had enough. I could hear Gale muttering soothingly to my mother, and unlike when my dad did the same thing, Gale's words seemed to have more of an effect on her. My mother's sobs soon faded.

I went to check on dad. He was in his studio, painting something. I expected it to be another horrific image from the Hunger Games. I guess it was dad's way of letting all of his balled up emotions out, as if painting the images onto canvas could erase them from his mind. My father was so engrossed in his painting that he didn't notice me sneak up behind him and take a peek at his picture. Instead of the usual pictures of bloodied children and mutts and war scenes, my father was painting a picture of a teenage girl with a black braid and a bow and arrow, and a tall, dark haired boy that stood next to her in the woods, a piece of rope in his hands.

The painting was detailed enough for me to see that the girl was supposed to be my mother, and the boy was supposed to be Gale Hawthorne. _They were definitely more than friends_, I thought that night as I lay in bed. I don't know when Gale left our house, because I stayed in my room for the rest of the time, silently processing all of the information I'd gained today.

Sometime during that period of thinking, I suddenly remembered my plans for tomorrow. I was going hunting with Ray Hawthorne in the morning, and I still had no idea what I was going to do.

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><p><strong>Hope you guys like it so far :D The next chapter should be interesting ;)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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><p>I woke up extra early the next morning, probably because of my nerves. I sorted through my clothes and pulled on what I thought would be appropriate for hunting. Leggings, a green tunic, and leather boots. I tried to make it down the hallway as quietly as I could. I paused at my parents' bedroom door, and I could hear my mother singing to herself, a tune I'd been hearing since I can remember.<p>

_Are you, are you_  
><em>Coming to the tree<em>  
><em>Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me...<em>

I've always thought that was the creepiest song ever, but I never said anything to my mother. The song was special to her, so no one ever commented on it. Dad told me that her father used to sing it to her.

I made my way to a small closet at the beginning of the hallway, where my mother's old bow and arrows sat, untouched except for the rare times when my mother took Gabriel hunting. I felt guilty just thinking of holding them. What if I lost them? What if I somehow broke the bow? What if I lost the arrows? Besides, Gabriel was actually good at hunting, a natural, as I'd seen from that one time the three of us-my mother, Gabriel, and me- went out into the woods together.

I gingerly picked up the bow and held it in the position my mother had shown me. I pretended to shoot an arrow into the vase at the end of the hallway. Even pretending, I felt clumsy holding the bow. With a sigh, I slung the bow onto my back and fixed the pouch of arrows onto my shoulder. _Here goes nothing._

I glanced at the clock to make sure I wasn't late, and it was only six so I figured I had a good sixty minutes to try and practice with the bow and arrows. I slipped out of the back door, my mother's eerie tune playing itself over and over in my head. I cut straight through my father's sprawling garden, filled to the brim with evening primroses, and through a small bunch of trees. After going through the trees, there was another small clearing that led into more trees. When I went through the second thicket of trees, I arrived into the heart of the Meadow.

The Meadow represented a happier part of my childhood. I remembered countless days and evenings spent in the grass. Gabriel and I would chase each other around the area until we collapsed, and then we would lay down together in the tiny pink and white wildflowers that nearly overtook the grass. My mother and father would watch us from a distance, underneath an ancient tree. They would even laugh and smile at that time, content with their lives. Of course, that was years ago, at a time where everything made a little more sense and everyone was a little more satisfied with their lives.

Right now, Ray Hawthorne was sitting at the edge of the Meadow, an hour early just like me, his eyebrows knit together in concentration as he tied a long piece of rope into a complicated snare. I watched him from across the Meadow for a few minutes, unsure as to whether I should approach him or not. After a few minutes of debating with myself, I went over to him as gracefully as I could with my naturally clumsy steps and the giant bow on my back.

"Hey," I said, plopping down beside him. Ray looked at me, the ghost of a smile brightening up his features.

"Hey, Ruella. Know how to make any snares?" Ray asked, holding up his trap. I shook my head.

"Not even a simple knot?" I shook my head again, embarrassed, but I didn't want to lie anymore about my skills than I already had.

"I could teach you if you like," Ray said, his voice trailing off. His gaze landed on the bow on my shoulder.

"Is that yours?" he asked, pointing to it.

"No, it's my mothers." I took the bow off my back and handed it to him. Ray took it into his hands, and inspected it for a few minutes.

"Mind if I try it out?" Ray asked, looking up.

"Sure," I said, opening up my pouch of arrows and handing him a few. Ray got up and moved towards the woods.

"You know, it's kind of creepy how your footsteps are completely silent," I commented as Ray led me through the trees and into a small clearing. Ray practically glided over the grass while I something crunched under my feet every few steps.

He turned around and smiled at me. "I guess I got them from my father."

"Gale Hawthorne?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Ray asked, fiddling with bow in his hands. He didn't seem very surprised, as if this happened to him often.

"I, um, bumped into him yesterday," I replied, hoping my answer would suffice.

"Cool. Who are your parents?" Ray asked absentmindedly, his focus on the bow and arrows. He didn't seem to know about his father's late night visit to my house.

"Um," I hesitated. "Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark."

Ray's head snapped up, his gray eyes wide. "No way. They were the victors of the 74th Hunger Games or something, weren't they?"

"Yeah," I said, "The Games messed them up." I mentally slapped myself. Why was I telling all of this to a near stranger? Me and my big mouth.

"I know how you feel. The Games and the war messed up my dad, too."

"He was in the Games?" I asked, curious.

"No, but my dad said he had to watch his best friend go through the Hunger Games. He wouldn't tell me who it was though, but he said it scarred him for life."

Ray paused, hesitating slightly before going on.

"And then there was the war. My dad doesn't talk about it at all. All I know is that he designed weapons, and that's only from textbooks," Ray said, standing up. That was the most he had ever said to me at once.

There was no reason for me to add that my parents were in the war too. Everyone child over the age of fourteen in Panem knows that my mother was the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion.

Ray held the bow up, and prepared to shoot an arrow. He was in the perfect position, poised gracefully and with the morning sunlight shining down on him the only thing I could think of was how I was nothing compared to him and how I was just going to make a fool of myself this morning.

Ray launched the arrow at a bird that I didn't even notice flying by. The bird fell down to earth with a small _thud_, and Ray picked up the bird and took the arrow out of its neck. "I'll clean the arrow if you want." I nodded weakly, cursing myself for ever agreeing to this trip.

We walked ahead deeper into the forest, in silence for a little while. I broke the silence with another one of my not- very-well- thought-out comments. "The sky looks blue today," I said, as if it were perfectly normal. Ten seconds laters my eyes widened as I realized what I had just said and I nearly bit my tongue off. _Stupid, stupid girl. What the hell was that?_

Ray gave me a funny look, not saying anything. _Great, you ruined all chances of being friends with him, _I told myself.

The moment of truth finally came when we stopped in another clearing after walking through the woods for a while. There was a giant flat, rock there, a large, rotting log that looked hollow, and a black circle where it was apparent someone had made a fire many times. "Hey, why don't you try out the bow now?" Ray asked me.

"Sure," I said, trying to act more confident than I was. I took the bow into my hands, and frantically tried to remember the right way to hold it. I held the bow in front of me in an awkward position, and tried to retrieve an arrow out of my bag to shoot while holding the bow. I failed miserably and dropped the bow and all of my mother's arrows fell out of the pouch.

Ray eyed me carefully as I blushed beet red and bent down to pick up all of the arrows. I put them into the pouch one by one and Ray bent down and picked up the bow for me. "You don't have the slightest idea how to use this thing, do you?" Ray asked me, his gray eyes studying me carefully, his hands holding up the bow.

"Nope," I replied honestly. A weight lifted off of my shoulders, the lie no longer burdening me. _I'm a terrible actress, _I thought, _I couldn't even keep up my act for more than 24 hours._

"I knew it," Ray said, and I was relieved to find he didn't sound disappointed or angry. "I can teach you, if you want. My dad and I are in District 12 for two more weeks."

"You're not mad at me?" I asked in surprise.

Ray shrugged. "No offense, but I sort of knew you couldn't hunt from the moment I saw that bow on your back. You didn't look comfortable with it at all." _Am I really that obvious?_

"And you're a terrible liar," he adds with a slight smile.

"Well, that it would be nice if you could teach me. My school starts in two weeks, so the timing's perfect," I said, cracking a grin.

To seem polite and try to make it up to Ray for lying, I invited him into my house. "We could get a little something to eat."

"Are you sure? I don't want to bother anyone this early in the morning."

"Yeah, I mean, you're already so quiet. Your footsteps, I mean, how they don't make noise," I said, stumbling over my words. "The only one awake at this time is my mom. She won't say anything."

Ray asked me one more time if I was sure that he could come, and after reassuring him it was fine, I led him back through the woods and through the Meadow, and to my father's garden. "Who planted all these?" Ray asked in awe, staring at all of the flowers.

"My dad," I replied, "He gardens and paints to get his mind off of the Games." Ray nodded, as if he understood completely, and being as observant he was, he probably did completely understand.

Ray followed me into the kitchen, where my mother was washing dishes and humming. "Juice, tea, milk.. what would you like?" I asked Ray as we entered, and he said water so I got out a glass and filled it with cold water from the fridge. Ray was still standing as he drank the water, and my mother turned around at the slight noise.

"Ruella, where were you-" she started, but she cut herself off and asked, "Who's this?" She frowned slightly at Ray. "Gale-" she started again, her eyes clouding over, but closed her mouth and let her eyes fall closed. After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes again.

"Maybe I should go-" Ray started, but I quickly chimed in.

"This is Ray. He was just thirsty so I invited him in for water." My mother nodded, although I could she didn't completely buy it.

"Gale's son, aren't you?" she asked Ray in a pleasant voice. Ray nodded. "You look exactly like him. It's almost scary, actually." My mother gave a forced laugh, and Ray gave a forced smile.

I got a glass out of the pantry and poured Ray a glass of water as he stood awkwardly with my mother, making small talk. I handed Ray the glass and he gulped down the water.

"Well, thanks, Ruella, and sorry for disturbing you Mrs. Mellark," Ray said, opening the door to leave.

"No problem," my mother said, still wearing her falsely cheery expression. As soon as Ray disappeared through the door, she turned to me. "What were you actually doing?" I shrugged, thinking it none of my mother's business.

"We were just going for a walk."

"This early?"

"Well, yeah."

"Ruella-"

I turned and stalked back to my room.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked it!<strong>

**And by the way, you guys should totally listen to 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift, the new song for THG soundtrack.**

**Thanks for reading :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

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><p>"We have exams right when we go back to school," Essa informed me later that evening. We were both behind the counter in the grocery shop, sipping on tall glasses of lemonade.<p>

"How do you know?" I asked her, desperately wishing her words were false. I wasn't in the mood to stay locked up in my room with only my books for company.

"A girl who was in eleventh grade last year came in to buy something this afternoon, and she told me about them," Essa replied. Technically, being only 15 going on 16, Essa and I were supposed to go to tenth grade this year, but since we were the only fifteen year olds in the district, the school had put us in with the kids a year older than us.

"Maybe she's lying," I said. "Aren't the older kids are always trying to scare us?"

"Maybe," Essa said, "but when I told my dad about the exams he said he'd heard about them from other parents."

There was silence as we both mentally went over all of the things we would have to study. Math, ancient history, the history of the Hunger Games, science, the world before Panem...

"Hey, how was your hunting trip with Ray?" Essa asked suddenly. I already had a reply for this question planned out.

"It was pretty bad," I admitted, trying to seem sheepish. "I don't even know how to hunt so I just made a fool of myself. I guess Ray got pretty annoyed at me, and we both ended up going home early."

"That's it?" Essa asked, not completely buying my story.

"Yeah, why?" I asked. Essa looked at me dubiously.

"You're leaving some part of the story out," Essa said suspiciously.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Are too," I said, and mentally slapped myself for losing. Honoring a pinky promise Essa and I had made several years back, since Essa had won the argument, I told her the rest of the story. _Besides, _I thought, _Essa would've found out sooner or later from someone else. _At least this way I saved us from a major fight.

"Ray offered to teach me how to hunt, and I said yes," I told Essa in a small voice. Essa's eyes widened.

"How many days?" she asked.

"Not that long," I replied vaguely.

"Come on, Ruella, just tell me," Essa prodded.

"Two weeks," I confessed, looking down.

"That's not too long? I can't believe you," Essa said angrily.

"It's just hunting," I said defensively.

"But still! You probably didn't even think of inviting me along, did you?" Essa asked, looking me straight in the eye.

"I, um," I hesitated. "Ray isn't exactly the most, er, social person. I don't think he would be too thrilled about having two girls with no hunting skills whatsoever tagging along. I bet it already bothers him enough to have an elephant like me tagging along." _Excuses, excuses, excuses..._

"I saw him first," Essa blurted, and as soon as she said it her cheeks started turning pink. I knit my eyebrows together in confusion, and Essa quickly mumbled, "Nevermind." Her cheeks turned even redder. _Oh, _I thought, realizing what she meant, _so that's what this is about?_

"Oh, come on, Essa. I don't like him and I'm pretty sure Ray only offered to teach me because he feels bad for me," I told her honestly. I just wanted to be friends with Ray.

"Whatever," Essa mumbled, still embarrassed. "But you should know that even if you don't like him, he might like you. All of the guys in our class are practically drooling over you. I mean, you're pretty and you're the daughter of two victors." I gave her a questioning look.

Me? Pretty? Essa's never looked in a mirror, has she? And two victors are the last people you'd want as parents, unless you prefer a slightly dysfunctional family to a normal, happy one.

"Stop trying to make yourself feel bad," I said, completely dismissing what Essa said about me. "You're way prettier than me, and I've seen more than enough guys staring at you," I told her truthfully.

Essa nodded weakly, not necessarily agreeing with me, but just to close the topic.

Just as I was about to say something, Gabriel opened the door to the store. "Dad needs milk and eggs for baking cookies, and some food coloring," he said to Essa. I hopped out from behind the counter, and went to stand by Gabriel as Essa looked for the food coloring.

Gabriel paid her with the money dad gave him, and I left the store with Gabriel since it was almost sunset anyway.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I remembered Gabriel's interrupted party from the day before. "Sorry about your party yesterday," I told him, wondering what he and his friends had done that whole time. I felt a pang of guilt as I realized I didn't even bother to check on him that night.

"It's not even your fault," Gabriel said, smiling at me, "Besides, we had fun. I can take care of myself, you know that right? It's okay that you forgot to check on me," he said, reading my mind.

"You're still my little brother," I said, ruffling his hair even though Gabriel was just an inch short of my height.

He swatted my hand away playfully and we walked home in contented silence after that.

"Ruella, what is this doing here?" my father asked me as soon as I got home, holding up my mother's bow and arrows. I silently cursed myself for forgetting to put them back in their place.

"I don't know," I said casually, hoping my father would drop the subject.

"Ruella, you know you shouldn't go off like that by yourself. What were you thinking?" Dad said in his ever-reasonable tone of voice.

"It's not like I even know how to hunt. I just went for a walk in the forest with them," I said.

"That's exactly the problem! You shouldn't go into the forest alone when there's wild animals lurking around, and you don't even know how to defend yourself!" My father raised his voice slightly, the closest he's ever come to yelling at me.

"I wasn't even alone!" I snapped, immediately regretting that I even said that.

"Who were you with?" my father asked me suspiciously. I frantically scanned my brain for a name other than Essa's, because I didn't want to get Essa in trouble with me.

"N-no one," I finally stammered, not wanting to tell the truth.

"Was it a boy? Were you sneaking off with someone?" my father asked, his face turning slightly red at the thought.

"Oh my gosh, dad, no! Don't you trust me enough to know I wouldn't do something like that! I was with Ray," I said. My dad frowned, probably jumping to conclusions without even hearing the whole story first.

"Who's Ray?" he asked suspiciously. By now I was wishing I had just said that I was with Essa, even if it would get her in trouble. I stayed silent. How would he react if he knew Ray was Gale's son?

"Ruella, just tell me the truth. It's for your own safety," my dad said. Instead of guilty, all I felt was angry now. Who was he to say what I could and couldn't do? If I had been taking care of Gabriel and myself for years, I could surely take care of myself right now.

I pushed past my father and ran to my room, locking my door.

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><p><strong>Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

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><p>Splashes of early morning sunlight filtered through my window as I stood in the middle of my room, weighing my options. I could stay at home and apologize to my dad for last night (I was feeling pretty guilty about that now) or I could go into the woods with Ray again. I had already found my mother's bow in my father's ingenious hiding place behind stacks of canvases in his painting studio. I held the bow close to me, fingering the wood and thinking.<p>

Before I could decide otherwise, I slung the bow onto my back and walked out of my room, closing the door gently behind me. I walked briskly through the hallway, only stopping to peek into my parents' room. Surprisingly, they were both sleeping peacefully, although the thumps and muffled screams during the middle of the night told me that my mother had had another one of her nightmares, probably triggered by the return of the mysterious Gale Hawthorne.

_This is wrong, _I told myself as I cut through my father's garden and headed towards the Meadow.

The only thing my father had ever outright banned me from doing was hunting, and that's exactly what I was about to attempt for the second time in a week. I felt guilty, but there was a thrill in doing something that I wasn't supposed to do. It was a feeling I hadn't really experienced before, being intoxicated with excitement and having adrenaline pumping through my veins. I had never, ever disobeyed my parents before, because I knew they needed me to be there for them, to comfort them. I was an anchor for them. My mother nearly had a heart attack whenever I was even a minute late coming back from school, and it was only last year that my dad had convinced her to let me go into town by myself.

But that thrill kept me coming back for more, even though I knew I was going to get in major trouble for it.

When I made it to the Meadow, Ray was already there, tying yet another complicated snare. This time, I didn't hesitate to walk over to where he was sitting in the grass. I took the bow off my back and put it down on the grass beside me as I sat down. It was silent for a few minutes as Ray worked intensely on his snare, his fingers moving quickly. He didn't even acknowledge my presence.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Ray asked finally, putting his finished snare into a pouch that hung across his broad shoulders.

"I don't know," I shrugged. Ray stood up silently, barely rustling the grass underneath his feet.

"Let's go into the woods and we'll decide there," Ray said, offering me a hand to help me get up. I took it and scrambled to my feet.

Ray started walking towards the woods and I followed him closely. It was the same path we took yesterday, leading to the clearing that had the flat rock and the hollow log. There seemed to be a coldness in the clearing, a lingering sadness in the air that made me slightly uneasy, and I shifted uncomfortably. I adjusted the bow on my shoulder, a gesture that was quickly becoming a nervous habit.

Ray fixed the snare he had been working on earlier to a low branch on one of the many trees in the clearing. He skillfully arranged sticks and leaves over the snare to conceal it, and then motioned for me to duck behind a bush with him. I crouched on the muddy ground in an uncomfortable position, with the bow digging into the small of my back. We waited like that for a few minutes, our eyes focused intently on the hidden snare.

After what seemed like an hour, a small rabbit unknowingly wandered into the snare, and in a flash it was dangling from the tree branch by its feet. A gasp unwillingly escaped my mouth. Ray was already moving, gently untangling the rabbit from the ropes. He set the rabbit down, and after a few moments, it was dazedly heading in the opposite direction.

Ray unlooped the snare from the branch and replaced it in his pouch. "Finally got it to work," he said, giving me a small smile. "Why don't we start on those hunting lessons of yours?"

I nodded shyly, sliding the bow off of my back and handing it to him.

Ray got into the right position for shooting an arrow, and told me to try that much on my own. I took the bow into my hands and tried to mimick Ray's stance.

"No, your elbows are sticking out too much," Ray said, observing my position. I tucked in my elbows a bit, my face already starting to flush with embarrassment.

"Your feet are too wide apart." I moved them closer together.

"Your left foot should be in front, not your right."

"Move your arm up a bit higher."

"Bend your knee just a bit. No, no, that's too much."

"Move your bow down lower."

"Try not to shake so much."

"Why's your tongue sticking out?" I blushed, clamping my mouth shut.

"That looks, um, _close_," Ray said cautiously, taking in my awkward stance. I sighed.

"Can I take a break now?" I asked.

Ray arched one eyebrow, something I could never do. "All you've done is stand."

"But still," I said, still holding my failure of a shooting position. I felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of my face. I wondered how my mother managed to do this everyday back when she was younger.

The corners of Ray's lips curved upwards. "Sure."

Relieved, I set the bow down and went over to the rock that was situated towards the edge of the clearing. As I sat down on it, the uneasy feeling I had earlier grew stronger, and I didn't dare turn around for fear that I would find someone staring at me, as silly as that seemed. I watched as Ray practiced shooting. None of his shots ever missed their target.

After a while, he came over to the rock and sat down next to me, somewhat reluctantly. I felt a tiny bit better with Ray at my side, as if he could protect me. We were completely silent after that.

"How about we play a game," I suggested, breaking the silence.

"What kind of game?" Ray asked, turning his head so he was facing me.

"A question game, to get to know each other. You ask me a question and we both have to give an answer to it, and then I think of a question for both of us to answer." Maybe I would find out something about Ray. He was a complete mystery to me so far, and the only things I knew about him were that his father was Gale Hawthorne, he came from District 2, and that he was good at hunting.

Ray paused. "Okay, what's your favorite color?"

"Green," I answered immediately.

Ray studied me for a moment, piercing me with his steely gray gaze. "Blue."

"What's your favorite food?" I asked.

"Roast rabbit," Ray said, turning back around so he was facing the trees in front of us.

"Lamb stew."

"How old are you?" Ray asked, and I was kind of surprised he couldn't tell.

"Fifteen," I answered.

"Sixteen," Ray said. Of course, I already knew that from Essa's report about him from that day in the grocery store.

We went back and forth like this for a long time, still sitting together on the rock and asking each other mundane questions. By the time I decided I should get back home, I had learned that Ray's favorite subject was science, his birthday was on September 12 (only half a month from now), his best friend's name was Storm, his father was a television reporter, and that he had been hunting since he was seven or eight years old.

"See you tomorrow?" I asked him as we parted ways in the Meadow.

"Tomorrow," he repeated with a nod, confirming our meeting.

* * *

><p>I slung the bow off of my back and put it back carefully in my father's hiding place, arranging canvases over it so it looked untouched. A quick glance in their rooms told me that my parents and Gabriel were still sleeping. I checked the time and saw that it was only seven o' clock, so I had about an hour before my family woke up. I slipped out of the front door, deciding to make a long postponed visit to Greasy Sae. I would practically be under house arrest after what happened last night, so I figured that the mornings were the only chance I had to get out of the house, meet with Ray, and solve the enigma that was Gale Hawthorne.<p>

I half-ran, half-walked towards town. The town square was almost empty, since most vendors and merchants came out to open their shops and stalls around eight thirty. As soon as I passed through the square, I turned right towards the woods bordering District 12, in what I thought was the direction of the Hob, but just turned out to be a dirt clearing. Losing what little confidence I had in this whole venture, I walked aimlessly for a few minutes, trying to remember where the old warehouse was.

My mother had taken me to the Hob once after the hunting trip with Gabriel, and we had eaten some of Greasy Sae's 'famous' stew. Personally, I thought it tasted kind of gross but I forced it down anyway so I didn't seem rude. Greasy Sae was always coming to our house to visit my mother, so I was familiar with her, but the Hob was still a mystery to me.

I headed towards my left instead of my right, and to my relief after a few minutes of walking I spotted the ugly, scarred building that had somehow survived District 12's bombing during the war. I pushed open the creaky door and walked right in. As I expected, Greasy Sae was the only one in there, stirring something over a open fire. Smoke drifted out through a hole in the ceiling. I guessed other people would be joining Greasy Sae soon, since I remembered the Hob as fairly busy place.

I was just wondering how to start a conversation involving Gale Hawthorne with Greasy Sae, when Greasy Sae's head snapped up. "Why, if it isn't Katniss's girl. How'd you get here? I bet your mother didn't approve of you wanderin' around by yourself." Her tone of voice was stern but there was a wide grin on her face.

"I snuck out," I admitted, knowing there was no point in lying. Sae gestured for me to sit down beside her and I cautiously did so.

Greasy Sae studied me. "You look more and more like your mother every day, except for those blue eyes," Sae said, "You act like her, too. Or at least how your mother used to be." _Before the 74th_ _Hunger Games_, I finished silently.

Sae made small talk, asking me about school and my friends, although I knew she couldn't have cared less about my education.

"So what brings you here, Kat- er- Ruella?" Sae asked, catching herself.

"I was wondering if you could tell me about Gale Hawthorne and my mother," I said, watching Sae's hands stirring the stew.

"Gale visited, didn't he?" Sae asked. "Warned him not to when he dropped by me a few days ago. Gale's never been one to listen to others. Stubborn, like you and your mother."

"Yeah, he came to our house on the night of Gabriel's birthday, and Gale and mother talked," I said.

"Hmm?" Sae said, her way of telling me to go on.

I hesitated. "Mother's sister somehow got brought up in the conversation, and then she started screaming and Gale left."

"What do you want to know, girl?" Greasy Sae asked, still focused on the pot of stew.

"Did Gale really kill her?" I asked bluntly.

"It depends on how you look at it," Sae replied, finally looking up and meeting my eyes. "He helped design the bombs that killed poor Prim, but he didn't ask for the bombs to be dropped on her. For your mother, though, that connection was enough to make her hate Gale and blame him."

"That's not fair," I said before I could stop myself.

"Nope, it sure isn't fair. But nothing's fair, Ruella. We'd all gotten used to it a long time ago," Greasy Sae said solemnly, adding a pinch of reddish spice to the stew. We were both silent for a few minutes, staring at the bubbling stew and thinking our own thoughts.

"What were they?" I asked, voicing another question that was nagging at me.

"What do you mean?" Greasy Sae asked.

"What were Gale and my mother? Friends? Cousins?" I prodded.

An unreadable look crossed Greasy Sae's face. "They were close," she replied, choosing her words carefully, "Best friends. I don't think your mother had any other friends besides Gale." There had to be more than that. I waited for Greasy Sae to go on, and after a slight hesitation, she did.

"Your mother told you about her hunting days, didn't she?" Greasy Sae asked me. I nodded. Back when my mother was a little better, she would tell me stories about her childhood, most of which involved her dad; the dead grandfather I never knew.

"The part she left out was that Gale was her hunting partner, as them two put it. They both supported their families through hunting, and neither of their families would've had anything near enough to eat if it hadn't been for the other."

"And?" I prodded further, even though I knew I was probably just annoying Greasy Sae now.

"And nothing. They just fell apart," Greasy Sae said, clearly closing the topic. "How about some stew?"

"Er, no thanks," I said after glancing quickly into the pot, "I already ate breakfast."

"Well, you'd better get going then. You don't want to get in trouble with your parents, do you?"

* * *

><p>"Wake up, Ruella," my dad said, gently shaking me. I faked a yawn and stretched before slowly standing up, acting as if I had been in bed the whole time and I hadn't snuck out to see Ray or Greasy Sae.<p>

"Come and eat breakfast. Your mother and Gabriel are waiting," he said, gesturing for me to follow him.

I sat down at the kitchen table beside Gabriel. I picked up a piece of toast from the plate in front of me and start ripping off small pieces to put in my mouth. It was silent in the kitchen except for faint chewing sounds and the clatter of plates. My mother looked a little better today, but not by much. There was still a touch of that faraway look in her eyes that both scared me and angered me. She always just clocked out on the world just because the pain was too much for her to bear. I supposed I was being hard on her, considering what she'd been through, but it still hurt.

"Can I go into town today?" I asked dad, even though I knew the answer.

"Absolutely not. You're grounded until school starts again," he said calmly, "I might shorten that to only one week, though, if you tell the truth about what you were doing with the bow and arrows."

I looked down at my toast as if it were suddenly interesting, and pointedly ignored my dad's question. I still couldn't work up the nerve to tell my dad the truth, and being grounded wasn't a big issue. Essa could live without me for a week or so, and if I was careful, I could just sneak out everyday to make sure I was able to go to the woods with Ray.

My dad sighed and got up, seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer from me. He picked up both his and Gabriel's plates to put in the sink. Gabriel and I got up from our seats in unison and we exited the kitchen, with me in front of him. My mother stayed seated at her place, picking at her food.

I went straight to my room while Gabriel put on his shoes to go outside.

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><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait! I had major trouble writing that chapter for some reason. <strong>

**I know the chapter's still sort of sucky, so sorry about that. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

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><p><em>Plink. <em>

I groaned and turned over in bed.

_Plink. _

I buried my head under my pillow.

_Plink, plink. _

The noises became more insistent. Angrily cursing under my breath, I opened my eyes and hoisted my feet onto the cold floor of my room. Disoriented, I stood in place for a few moments as I tried to figure out where the sounds were coming from. When the foggy layer that comes with sleep lifted off of my brain, I determined that the noises were resounding from my window.

Suddenly, all of the ghost stories Essa and I had exchanged over the years came rushing back to me, and I held my breath as I took tentative steps towards the window. I could only hope that whatever was making those plinking sounds didn't want to eat me or skin me alive. _So far, so good,_ I thought as I finally made it to the window. I pressed my nose against the glass, scanning the dim, sunlit area.

_Plink. _

I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming as a rock hit the window right where my nose was pressed. Whatever traces of sleep that were left in me evaporated with the sudden rush of blood. My heart racing, I cautiously peered out the window again to see who or what had been chucking rocks at my room this whole time.

"I'm going to kill you, Essa," I muttered under my breath. I spotted her head of golden hair as she waved towards me, as if there was nothing wrong with waking up someone at sunrise with rocks. I thought of going back to bed, but at that same moment another rock made contact with my window, and I decided to go down and see what Essa wanted before she broke the glass. Explaining a cracked window certainly wouldn't help clear things up with Dad.

I quickly changed out of my pajamas and slipped on the first pair of pants and shirt that I could find in my closet. I pulled on my leather boots and walked as quickly and quietly as I could through the hallway and out the door. Glancing at the clock before I left, I saw that it was five o' clock. _Five freaking o' clock. _Essa never woke up earlier than noon unless she had to, and I found myself getting curiouser and curiouser as to what she was here for.

I met Essa in the area that my window overlooked, an empty stretch of grass. "Essa, you know I'm grounded, right? If my dad catches me, he'll kill me," I said in place of a greeting.

"I know you're grounded, stupid. That's why I went through the trouble of waking up this early and coming out here. I need to show you something," Essa replied.

She was holding a magazine. I recognized it as the _Panem Circus_, a popular magazine created by the gossipy girls and women of the New Capitol and Districts 1 and 2. I had only read an issue once in school when a bunch of girls in our class were passing it around, and I never bothered reading one again. All it was filled with were fashion trends and gossip, which were a complete waste of time when I could be doing something more worthwhile.

"Really, Essa? You throw freaking rocks at my window at five in the morning because you have the sudden urge to show me some stupid magazine?" I asked. Essa looked unfazed.

"Read page 17," she said, shoving the magazine into my hands.

"Do I really have-"

Essa held up a handful of rocks and got ready to throw them all at my window.

"Okay, okay!" I said, giving in. I flipped the magazine open to page 17, and to my surprise I caught a glimpse of my mother's name on the page, along with Gale Hawthorne. _Gale Hawthorne? _

_**Who were the real star-crossed lovers of District 12?**_

**Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. Known throughout all of Panem as the victors of the 74th Hunger Games and the star-crossed lovers of District 12. We've all seen their struggle to keep their love alive onscreen and cried for them when they were apart. We've all felt their pain and sorrow as if we were there with them, and we all cheered for them when they were finally able to get together, and then cried again as their life together was in jeopardy because of the Quarter Quell. **

I snorted when I read this. Everyone in school said the citizens of the New Capitol and Districts 1 and 2 weren't the brightest people around, but I didn't know that their naïveté went this far. I obviously didn't know the whole story of how my mother and father came to be, but I suspected that it wasn't a glorified, dramatic romance that the magazine article presented it to be. In fact, right now the glorious Katniss Everdeen was fighting to keep herself sane.

"Just keep reading," Essa said impatiently.

**Was it all a lie?**

**An old friend of ours who's now a government official (her name is undisclosed for privacy reasons), said that the new government sifted through ex-President Snow's personal office, and found some interesting footage of Katniss Everdeen and her 'cousin', Gale Hawthorne, who is now a respected television reporter right here in District 2. We have 'cousin' in quotation marks, folks, because this footage showed Ms. Everdeen and Mr. Hawthorne sharing a kiss in the then-forbidden woods of District 12. **

My mouth dropped open in shock and my eyes got impossibly wider. I reread the last few sentences a good five times to make sure I had understood them properly. With a death grip on the magazine, I slowly looked up at Essa.

"That's completely and utterly _weird_," I said, brows furrowed. Essa nodded. "The magazine could be wrong," I continued, not wanting to imagine my mother with someone other than my dad, "I mean, it _is_ a gossip magazine."

"Look at the picture, Ruella," Essa replied gently.

I looked down at the magazine again, and on the page next to the article, there was a high quality picture of a tall, dark boy and a slightly shorter girl. It was like one of those things that you know you shouldn't look at but you can't bring yourself to look away. In part horror, shock, and curiousity, I studied the glossy picture to make sure that it really was my mother in there.

A long black braid ran down the girl's back, and a bow was slung over her shoulder. A pouch of arrows sat on her hip. The picture was detailed enough for me to see that the bow was indeed the very bow that was sitting in my house right now, in my father's painting studio, behind stacks of canvases. Even though the girl's face was half-hidden because of the boy's face, that was all of the information I needed to know it was my mother.

"No way," I said, still gaping at the picture, "No freaking way."

Just to make sure it was really Gale Hawthorne in that picture next to my mother, I studied the picture of the boy, childishly covering up the spot where their faces, er, _met_ with my hand. Because of the angle of the picture, I could just make out Gale Hawthorne's features, and eerily, he looked exactly like Ray. It were as if Ray was in that picture instead of his father. Tall, raven-haired, high cheekbones, tanned skin.

I opened my mouth to tell Essa again how freaking weird this whole thing was, but before a single word left my mouth, she said, "Yeah, I know Ruella. Just read the rest of the article."

Too dumbstruck to protest, I obediently finished reading the text.

**Now, I think the image is detailed enough for you to recognize our very own Mockingjay, and Gale Hawthorne, who you may recognize from either the rebel propos that aired during the war or the interviews that aired during the 74th Hunger Games. Fascinating, isn't it? Here we were all caught up in the swoon-worthy, tragic romance that Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark had fabricated during the Hunger Games, when there was this other, deliciously dark, forbidden romance brewing back home with the handsome cousin.**

**Although we all know that Katniss Everdeen is now happily married to Peeta Mellark with two children, a boy and a girl, we still can't let go of the secret love affair that went on between ****Ms. Everdeen and Mr. Hawthorne. **What the writing team of **_**Panem Circus**_** wants to know from all of our readers is what you think of this whole extravaganza. If you have any thoughts or questions, please write to our main headquarters in District 2 (address disclosed on the last page of this** issue). **

"What the hell?" I said out loud. Everything was too much. In just a few days' time, I'd learned that Gale Hawthorne had supposedly killed my mother's sister, had been my mother's hunting partner, had been my mother's best friend, he called my mother _Catnip_ out of all things, he was supposed to be my mother's cousin, and that he had kissed my mother in the woods a long, long time ago, and he supposedly used to be my mother's secret lover.

What the hell hadn't this guy done?

"How can you be sure that this is actually my mother and Gale Hawthorne?" I asked, pointing at the picture.

"Well, I can't exactly be sure, but..." Essa trailed off. There was a few moments of silence as we both thought.

"Ruella," Essa started, but I cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Essa, but I really, really have to go. I'm already grounded. Who knows what my dad will do if he finds out I've been sneaking out to see you?" I said, trying to sound sympathetic. I was already planning a few visits that I would have to execute without Essa, and I was, to put it plainly, trying to get rid of her.

"Haven't you been sneaking out to see Gale Hawthorne's son for the past few days? How is this any different?" Essa interjected, suspicion creeping into her voice.

"Oh, so you figured it out, too?" I asked, my voice small, referring to the whole Ray being Gale Hawthorne's son thing.

Essa gave me a small, genuine smile. "I found out after a dozen or so conversations with half of District 12's citizens. Well, as I was saying, how is sneaking out to see me any different from seeing Ray?" I faltered, trying to think of a plausible excuse.

"B-b-because..." I stammered, desperately racking my brain for any ideas.

"It's okay, whatever," Essa said dismissively.

"No, I'm really sorry, Essa, but Ray's only here for another week. I'll get to see you all year after he leaves. Ray'll probably never even come back to District 12," I said, trying to seem reasonable.

"I guess," Essa replied quietly, and we descended into another silence. "Hey, would you mind if I came along with you guys? Just once?" Essa asked, making my stomach plummet. I suddenly felt extremely guilty. I might've said yes to her before, but now the meetings in the woods felt like some secret, special thing between me and Ray, and I didn't want to spoil that.

Unfortunately, Essa took my hesitation to answer her as a flat-out no. "Okay, I guess I'll be going then," Essa said, her voice showing hints of betrayal and anger.

"Essa, you could come along sometime..." I said vaguely.

"No, no. It's fine. I understand that you want to keep your meetings secret," Essa said, only a slight trace of sarcasm in her voice, making me feel all the more guilty. "When this whole Ray thing blows over, come and see me, okay?"

"We'll catch up before school starts, Essa, I promise. You're my best friend, right?" I said, holding out my pinky to make a sacred pinky promise.

Essa smiled, making me feel a little better about myself. "Yeah." She intertwined our pinkies and held on for a second, then walked away towards town.

"Later, Essa!" I called. Essa waved at me, and then she walked back without turning around again.

With my mind still reeling from my recent (and slightly disturbing) discoveries, it was only after Essa disappeared into the distance that I realized I was still clutching the _Panem Circus_ in my hands. _Oh well, _I thought, _I might as well use it while I can. _

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><p><strong>(AN) So, how did you like it? **

**Comments, ideas, criticism, whatever; anything at all is welcome!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

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><p>I crept quietly into my father's painting studio, and I carefully moved yellowing canvases, half-empty jars of shiny paint, and brushes in various sizes and conditions. I worked quickly, piling up canvases beside me and putting down jars of paint wherever I could find space. Finally, when all of the art supplies were out of the way, I looked down at the space that I had just cleared.<p>

In place of my mother's bow, there was an empty spot where it should've been.

My father must've known I would at least try to find the bow, and he probably switched the hiding spot. I wasted no more time trying to look for it, and decided that I would just have to watch Ray tie snares today instead of attempting to learn how to handle the bow. Before that, however, I would need to take a quick detour. I grabbed the magazine from where I'd put it during my search, and headed out the door.

I had about half an hour before me and Ray's usual meeting time, so I moved at a brisk pace towards the outskirts of District 12. I felt a strange emptiness on my shoulder where my mother's bow should've been slung, and I reached to touch the edge of the bow out of habit a few times, only to swat at air. Even though I was still a disastrous shot, I had gotten used to the bow's presence.

Having been there only the day before, I located the Hob easily. Clutching the magazine, I walked through the door. Just like yesterday, Greasy Sae was hunched over a blazing fire in her usual spot, adding pinches of this and dashes of that into the boiling mixture in the pot.

"So, you've come back, girl, haven't you?" Greasy Sae asked, not even looking up.

"Yeah, I came to ask you something," I replied, feeling a bit bolder than yesterday. I walked right over to Greasy Sae and plopped down beside her, flipping through the magazine.

The atrociously bright colors of the pages caught her eye. "What've you got there?" she asked, glancing at the magazine, "Some silly Capitol gossip? I'd have thought Katniss's own girl would know better than to waste time readin' that junk."

Finding the right page, I pointed at the article. "Read this," I said.

Greasy Sae just laughed. Not knowing what was so funny, I waited patiently until she stopped. "I can't read, girl. You should know that they barely taught us anythin' in school when I was younger, and I had to skip most classes anyway to help out my mother with the house and kids."

Feeling incredibly stupid and ashamed of myself, I hesitantly started reading the article. Reading it to myself was one thing, but hearing my own voice echoing the article's words in the empty building made the words seem heavier and more real. Greasy Sae's expression had hardened after less than half of the first paragraph, and she seemed ready to explode by the time I was finished.

"Who do those Capitol people think they are? Goin' around, writing up stories that they barely know about," she fumed, vigorously stirring her latest concoction. "Bad timing, too. Gale's come back to 12 for the first time in fifteen years or so, and his visit's goin' to look suspicious with all of this nonsense bein' published at the same time."

I thought for a moment. Gale Hawthorne's only appearance at our house was that one night at Gabriel's party, and he hadn't come back ever since. In fact, I didn't think I saw him at all after that, not even walking around town. If he had steps as quiet as Ray's, though, I guess he could duck his head and take a stroll quietly through the town square and slip back out unnoticed.

I could see the writers of the _Panem Circus _eating up Gale's visit. _The real star-crossed lovers of District 12 unite, _their next article would be titled, _Is this a new beginning? _I almost laughed out loud at the absurdness of the whole situation, but I didn't because Greasy Sae still looked steamed, and laughing would have only earned me a glare from her.

"So is it true?" I asked.

"Be more clear with your questions, girl," Greasy Sae said, looking up.

"Is it true that my mother and Gale Hawthorne..." I said, trailing off, but I knew Greasy Sae got the point.

I heard a sharp intake of breath. "They were best friends, Ruella, I told you that," Greasy Sae replied evasively.

"But the article," I pried, "Is it right about my mother and Gale Hawthorne being, er, _together_?" I asked, finally being able to choke out the word 'together', but still not being able to say 'lovers'.

"They were best friends," Greasy Sae repeated pointedly, obviously not wanting to delve deeper into the subject.

I pushed my luck, however, and held out the picture to Greasy Sae. "Who are the people in the picture?" I asked, needing someone to confirm what I already knew was true.

Greasy Sae looked at the picture for a long, long time, probably not because she needed time to identify the people, but more likely because she was shocked by what she saw. "How in the name of Panem did they get that picture?" she questioned.

Stupidly, I actually started to answer her, "Well, the article said that they looked through Snow-"

"Yes, yes. I heard you the first time, girl. What I meant is that it was stupid of that government official to hand over footage like that to a _gossip magazine_, of all things," Greasy Sae clarified.

Yes, it was pretty stupid, but the government officials have done stupider things in the past. Just a few years ago, one of the officials slipped up and told someone where one of the New Capitol's minor weapons base was. The news had spread like wildfire, and although no incidents occurred because of swift action taken by the president, the New Capitol was ridiculed. So yes, our government was still flawed, but judging from our history books, it was far better than what it was before.

"Well, who are the people in the picture?" I asked again, not letting Greasy Sae dodge my questions this time. She had a way of subtly changing the subject and getting you distracted by another topic, but my father used the same tactic when he didn't want to answer something about the Hunger Games or war, so her strategy didn't work on me anymore.

Knowing she wouldn't get away with a vague answer this time, Greasy Sae replied, "Gale Hawthorne and your mother. You already knew that, though, didn't you girl?"

There was a long stretch of silence and I decided to leave, suddenly remembering my meeting with Ray.

"I'll get going now," I said, standing up and closing the magazine.

"Come back anytime, girl. You're somewhat of a pain in the neck, I have to say, but you remind me of your mother. I miss talkin' to her," Greasy Sae told me, looking up at me with a small smile. "I'll be comin' around to your house one of these days for a visit. S'been a while."

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><p>"Where's your bow?" Ray asked me as soon as we met in up in the Meadow.<p>

"I don't know," I replied vaguely.

"You don't know?" he repeated, arching an eyebrow and studying me.

"Yeah, I don't know," I said defensively, uncomfortable with the way his gray-eyed gaze was piercing me.

"You're lying," Ray stated simply.

"I am not," I replied, a little too quickly. I winced inwardly.

"Yes, you are. You're biting the inside of your cheek," Ray said with a slight laugh, "And your voice is guarded." I frowned, not liking how he could see right through my façade.

"Well, it's fine if you don't want to tell me. I'll teach you how to tie snares today," Ray said evenly, turning around and heading towards the woods.

I followed him, eventually catching up and walking side-by-side with him. "My dad found out that I was sneaking out with the bow a few days ago," I admitted, not wanting there to be any misunderstandings between us, "He grounded me for a week and hid the bow somewhere. I found it yesterday and snuck out with it, but he changed his hiding place today and I didn't have enough time to search for it."

Ray glanced at me and nodded, and somehow I knew that we were good.

We ended up in the same clearing with the big flat rock, and I immediately went over to it and took a seat on the rock while I watched Ray unload rope from his pouch. "Well, Ruella, don't you want to learn how to make a snare?" he called from the other end of the clearing. I shook my head, a small smile playing on my lips.

"I'll probably end up hanging myself upside down from a tree," I called back in reply.

Ray gave me a smile, not a trace of a smile, but a complete smile, the first I received from him. My own smile broadened to match his. "I'd like to see that," he said in a silly accent, probably mocking the New Capitol's.

I unfolded my legs from under me and slid down the rock, feeling a new burst of energy. "Let's start, then."

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><p>About half an hour later, I had actually managed to successfully complete a simple snare, the kind that you can set on the ground and catch a squirrel with.<p>

"We're actually starting to see some progress here," Ray commented as I proudly held out my snare to him, like a little girl showing her mother a work of art.

"Maybe bows just aren't my thing," I said as he inspected the snare.

"Maybe," he echoed, looking up at me. I felt a jolt as his unnervingly steely eyes met mine. Ray stood up from where he had been crouched on the ground. He brushed off his hands on his pants and said, "Well, if you can make a simple snare, I guarantee you'll be able to shoot straight by the end of the week."

"And what if I'm not able to do that by the end of the week?" I asked, my voice mock-challenging. Ray pretended to think for a moment.

"You'll owe me a rabbit skin," he declared, deciding on a condition.

"A rabbit skin?" I repeated. "And just how will I get that, Ray Hawthorne?"

"Why, you'll have to capture the rabbit and take off its skin, Ruella Mellark," Ray replied, in the same tone of voice as mine. "As a matter of fact, let's shake on it right now."

I laughed freely, feeling completely comfortable talking with Ray now. "Okay, then Mister Hawthorne." I stuck out my hand and Ray grasped it with his own slightly larger one, and gave it one firm shake before letting go.

"It's a deal, Miss Mellark," Ray said, saluting me. I offered one last smile and took off towards my house.

"I should get going, Mister Hawthorne."

"See you tomorrow, Miss Mellark."

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><p>I gently pushed open my front door, cautiously sticking in my head to make sure no one was wandering around the house yet. Seeing and hearing no one, I allowed myself to step inside. I quietly peeled off my leather boots and held them in my hands as I padded down the hallway and into my bedroom. Swinging open my closet, I replaced the boots and instinctively reached for my shoulder, the spot where my bow should've been.<p>

Once again, my hand went clean through empty air. Scolding myself for being so stupid, I climbed into bed with my normal clothes still on. As I turned over on the mattress, I thought that I was missing something important. I told myself I was only missing the bow and arrows, and that I was just being paranoid.

It still nagged at me, though, as I tried to fall back asleep. I finally sat up in bed, thinking about what I could've possibly forgotten to do or what I might've left behind. After a few moments, my stomach was filled with a sinking feeling as I realized what was missing.

I had left the _Panem Circus _in the woods.

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><p><strong>(AN) **

**I'd just like to give a long, long, loong overdue thanks to all of my wonderfully amazing reviewers. Leaving comments and criticism may seem insignificant, but if you've ever written a story, you know that they actually make you smile and spur you on :D**

**So thanks to everyone! :DD**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Another Fire_  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

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><p>With my left boot fully on and my right one half-hanging off of my foot, I ran as best as I could through my house, towards the back door. Suddenly remembering that I should probably try to be a little more quiet, I opened the door as gently as I could. I tore through my father's garden and sprinted towards the Meadow, almost tumbling over several times thanks to my boots. All the way there I silently hoped that Ray hadn't seen the article on my mother and his father.<p>

I crossed the Meadow, trampling hundreds of poor, tiny wildflowers in the process. I entered the woods, running towards what I hoped was the clearing that I had been in only minutes ago. By some miracle, my feet actually led me to the right place, and I ran straight into Ray as I stepped into the clearing. Obviously not expecting me to come out of nowhere and ram into him, a look of mild surprise crossed Ray's features and we both fell to the ground with an _oomph. _For a few moments, we both stayed still, with me half on and half off of Ray. I felt myself blush as some sense finally kicked in and I awkwardly clambered off of Ray, mumbling an apology.

Ray got up steadily, keeping his composure in contrast to me. "What brings you back here so fast?" he asked teasingly. That's when I noticed the _Panem Circus_ in his right hand, slightly crumpled from the fall.

My blush deepening, I pointed at the magazine. "I came back for that."

"I was just going to come to your house to return it," Ray said, handing me the magazine. "Didn't know it was so important to you," he added after seeing the look of relief on my face.

"It's not important to me," I said quickly, "I borrowed it from my friend, Essa. You know her, right? Grocer's daughter. The one you almost shot that first day in the Meadow."

"Oh, the blond girl?" Ray asked, seeming to remember Essa. "You know, my dad knew her dad before the war. Essa's dad has the whole Seam look, doesn't he? How did she end up with blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Her mother's from the Town," I replied, and then I remembered that Ray probably didn't know about the whole District 12 social system from back in the day. "Right, I should probably explain the whole Seam thing, shouldn't I?"

Just as I was about to launch into a lengthy explanation of the Town and the Seam, Ray cut me off. "I'm not that clueless, you know," he said with a small smile, "I know about how the district worked back then."

"Oh," I replied intelligently, and after a beat I added, "You're just saying that to shut me up, aren't you?"

"Believe or not, I'm not lying, Miss Mellark. I have quite a reputation for being honest," Ray shot back, adjusting the bag strapped across his shoulders.

"I bet you do," I replied. Although I wasn't so sure about his reputation for being honest, I believed the part about Ray knowing about District 12's organization, with his dad being from District 12 and all. "So, you didn't happen to look through it, did you?" I asked Ray, referring to the magazine.

"No," Ray replied, making a face. "Why would I? I deal enough with that stupid magazine back in District 2."

"Well, then. I should really get back home before my family notices I'm gone," I said, my stomach welling with relief. If Ray had happened to see the article, I don't know how I could face him without blushing, even though what happened between my mother and his father was none of my business or my fault.

We exchanged goodbyes for the second time that day, and I ran all the way back home, crumpled magazine in hand.

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><p>"Ruella?" Gabriel asked me sleepily, blinking as if he wasn't sure I was really there.<p>

"Oh, er, hi Gabriel," I stuttered.

"Why are you awake so early?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and frowning at me, making him look nine years old instead of thirteen.

"I-I went to get a glass of water," I stammered, and rolled my eyes for effect. "I was just about to go back to bed."

Gabriel looked like he bought my excuse, but then he happened to look down and noticed the boots on my feet. "What-"

"Just go back to sleep, Gabriel," I said, too weary to think of any more excuses. Then I calmly took off my boots and stalked back to my room, leaving Gabriel standing there, still looking completely confused.

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><p>The day was as pleasant as it could get, considering that I wasn't allowed to step foot outside our front door as long as my parents were awake. Gabriel went to Essa's house, located right next to their store, to visit Dayton. I sat around all day, restlessly walking from room to room, painting a slightly lopsided picture of the Meadow, drawing a picture in my sketchbook, and even helping out my mother in the kitchen when I was really desperate for an activity.<p>

However, all I wanted to do was go back into the woods with Ray.

The woods offered a certain kind of tranquility and sense of adventure that I couldn't find anywhere else. They were quickly becoming my favorite place to be, even though that seemed ridiculous, considering that I'd only visited them a grand total of five times.

Becoming increasingly irritated as the afternoon dragged on, I finally brought out my canvas school bag again, flipping through my textbook for anymore information on Gale Hawthorne. I found nothing more than the article that I had read the first day that he had come to our house, at Gabriel's party.

With a agitated sigh, I shoved the book back into my bag. Getting up, I went towards my bedroom to put the bag back in my closet. When I opened the door, though, I found my mother sitting on my bed, her back to me.

"Mom?" I asked gently, not wanting to startle her, "What are you doing?"

When she didn't answer, I walked around the side of the bed and saw an atrociously bright bundle of pages on my pillow.

The _Panem Circus_.

She just stared at the wall for a few moments, not saying anything. When my mother finally looked up, her eyes were pooling with tears. Her face crumpled slightly and two salty streams of water started running down her cheeks, dropping onto the sheets.

"Mom," I started, not knowing what I could say to comfort her. Hell, I wasn't even sure what was wrong in the first place.

"It's nothing, Ruella," she said in a surprisingly steady voice.

"Oh, really? Isn't that what you've been telling me my entire life? 'It's nothing'? But there's always something. I mean, I really don't think you would wake up screaming in the middle of the night and start crying randomly if it was nothing," I shot back hotly, most of my previous sympathy melting away. My mother took a few moments to absorb my words.

"It was her birthday a few weeks ago," my mother said quietly.

"Whose birthday?" I asked stupidly, and the answer dawned on me just moments after the words left my mouth.

"Prim," she replied.

_Oh._

"She would've been in her late thirties," my mother said, laughing softly, tears still gleaming in her eyes. "I still picture her as a thirteen year old girl, and she would've been nearly forty by now."

I blinked and let my eyes stay closed for a moment longer than necessary. "Why don't you ever turn to anyone else? You can't do everything on your own, mom," I said, "If we knew, we could help you get through it."

"I'm used to being on my own," my mother replied seriously. "I know I don't have to be alone, but, I-I just don't know what's wrong with me. Your father knows it's her birthday, but he knows not to bother me. It doesn't feel right to mourn her with everyone. None of you actually knew her."

I knew the last line should've struck me as at least mildly insulting, and I wanted to say that I knew plenty about my mother's sister from stories that my dad told me, but I realized that I actually didn't. Dad's knowledge was limited to seeing Prim walking with my mother or seeing Prim staring at the cakes in the bakery window. Maybe it was all right for my mother to cry for her alone.

"It's fine," I said. Gale's visit might've rubbed my mother the wrong way, too, since he was supposed to have been the creator of the bombs that killed my aunt. It could've been that he just forgot that it was Prim's birthday, but I got the feeling that you can't forget things like that, not when you're accused of killing of your best friend's sister.

The door opened a crack and my dad poked his head in, wearing an apron with flour all over it. "Everything all right? I thought I heard yelling."

My mother was obviously a master of disguise, because her eyes were completely dry and her nose wasn't the slightest bit red. She even managed to sound cheerufl as she replied, "Just having a mother-daughter talk."

My dad frowned. My mother and I were definitely not the type to have a mother-daughter talk, or even use the term. It was just the way things were. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, his voice slightly suspicious.

"Yeah," I said, "I was just asking her if I could go to Essa's house, and she started lecturing me on why I couldn't go."

That must've sounded more like our typical conversations, because Dad nodded and said, "Your mother's right. Well, I guess I'll go back to dinner."

He turned to leave, but paused, hesitating slightly before saying, "The carpenter and electrician told me the bakery's all fixed up now. We'll be able to reopen next week. This time, Ruella, please don't almost burn the bakery down, okay?" My dad smiled, shaking his head, and then left me and my mother alone.

Just at the beginning of summer, I had been in charge of the bakery while my father went to the grocer's to buy some ingredients. There were half-baked rolls in the oven, and it just so happened that Essa was walking by the bakery at that moment. I had been itching to tell her something, I forget what, all day, and I rushed out to meet her. What was supposed to be a two minute conversation turned into a thirty minute conversation. Back in the bakery, the rolls had caught on fire and destroyed the oven, and it was only when I saw smoke curling out the windows that I realized what was happening.

After that, my dad had made it clear that I was never to operate the ovens again.

"Well, at least we'll all be settled into our routines by the time school starts," my mother said, sighing. There was nothing really more to talk about, so I made a move to leave when my mother stopped me.

"Ruella, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you all the time, and there's no way I can make it up to you for all of the mysteries and fits, but I'll try harder, I really will. After all, my mother also hadn't been the best caretaker either."

"She hadn't?" I asked. This was new to me. I knew that my grandmother lived in four because she couldn't bear to come back to 12, but I'd never heard a bad word about her, ever. It was just another one of those things that just was.

"You know how my father died in the mines, don't you?" I nodded. "She clocked out on the world. My mother barely kept herself alive and spent all her days in her room, just sitting there and doing nothing. It was as if nothing mattered to her, not even her two starving kids."

That sounded similar to my own mother, but my mother was not nearly as bad.

"That's awful," I said, for a lack of better words.

"I know," my mother replied. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yes, mom," I sighed.

"Well, why don't you go help your dad in the kitchen? I'll wash up and come right behind you."

It was only afterwards that I realized I forgot to ask what she was doing with the magazine.

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><p><strong>Comments, reviews, criticism, anything in general is welcome :D<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

_**Another Fire**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

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><p><strong>(AN) Old readers who have stuck with this story by some miracle, you may want to check out chapters four and five again. Some major changes were made :) Hope you enjoy this long, long overdue update. **

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><p>"And that's the last sack," Essa said, handing me a bag of flour. I stumbled slightly under its weight, and Essa stacked three carton of eggs to carry herself. Today and yesterday, everyone had been running back and forth between the grocer's, my house, and the newly renovated bakery, getting it all stocked up and ready in time for its reopening in a few days. My punishment was lifted yesterday, mostly because my parents were distracted by all of the bakery business, and partially because they genuinely thought I would 'behave myself' again.<p>

Only a few hours ago, I had been in the woods again with Ray, although now he started bringing his father's old bow so that I wouldn't have to smuggle out my mother's bow. My aim had improved, but only slightly. Even now when Ray carved a target into a wide tree trunk, I always missed the giant circle by one or two inches. Ray always laughed and told that I was sure to shoot straight by the end of the week, and I always reminded him that there was only four days.

The bakery's back door was already propped open when Essa and I arrived there to drop off our last delivery. I stuck the flour in a cabinet where all of the other bags were, and Essa opened the refrigerator for the eggs. My father was working to clean sawdust off of one of the counter tops.

"Thanks for your help, girls," he said, looking up at us. I stifled a smile when I saw his face was already smudged with flour.

"No problem," Essa said, smiling. We both headed back out the door, starting to walk. Our feet automatically took us to the Meadow. I looked back at the bakery a few times, thinking that maybe everything would be better now. My dad would be occupied with his baking again, and my mother would keep herself busy by helping him.

Essa sat down in the grass, gesturing for me to do the same. I plopped down next to her, absentmindedly playing with the grass between my fingers.

"Guess who I talked to today," she said. I looked up at her, curious.

"Who?"

"Evenna Field," Essa replied, her eyes bright. Evenna Field was a girl in our class, exactly one year older than us. She was probably the prettiest girl in our school, maybe even the whole district, with her red hair, bright green eyes, and delicate features. Essa, being social and on good terms with everyone in our grade, talked to Evenna fairly often, so it couldn't be that talking to Evenna Field was special.

"And?"

"She invited us to a party. She said that everyone in our grade and the grade above us would be there," Essa said.

"And you're planning on going?" I asked her. "We'd be the youngest ones there."

"But it would still be fun."

"No," I said, "my parents just let me off the hook for the last time they caught me. If they catch me going to Evenna's party, I'll be stuck in my house for all of eleventh grade."

"It's next week," Essa said, as if I'd just agreed.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll think of a cover for us," she said, waving me off.

"Are you-"

"I'll think of something."

* * *

><p>I was extremely wary of Essa's plans for us to sneak off to Evenna's party. I didn't even want to go and it wasn't worth risking disappointing my parents again when the bakery was just about to reopen and after they'd just ended my previous punishment early. It was unlikely that they would catch me going into the woods early in the morning everyday, but Essa's plans usually have more than one flaw in them and in my mind, hunting seemed like a smaller offense than sneaking out to go a party.<p>

As I quietly changed to go hunting, I decided to tell Essa I wouldn't be going. She would try to convince me otherwise, obviously, but she wouldn't push me.

I cracked open the back door and started to set off towards the woods, the path there quickly becoming one as familiar as the way to the Meadow from the bakery. Treading fairly quietly through the woods, thanks to Ray, I arrived at what I now considered our meeting place. Ray was already waiting there on the rockwith his abck turned to me, his father's bow resting at his side. I smiled and crept towards him from behind, planning to scare him, but at the last moment he whirled on me and yelled, "Gotcha!"

With a small, "Oh," I stumbled backwards, one hand on my heart.

Ray grinned. "You can't sneak up on me with those elephant steps of yours."

"I was not that loud," I said defensively, one hand on my hip.

"For someone like me, it was loud enough," he replied, patting the spot next to him. I climbed onto the rock and settled myself at his side.

After a brief silence, Ray asked, "Did Evenna tell you about her party?" I jerked my head towards him.

"What? You know her?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Her family invited me and my dad for dinner. Our parents know each other," Ray said, shrugging. "She told me about the party after we ate."

"Where did I come into this?"

"I told her I might come if she invited you, too," Ray said shrugging. "I mean, you're the only person I actually know in 12. The last time I came here, I was probably only six or seven."

"Oh, so you've visited here before?" I asked him, trying not to linger on the topic of the party too much.

"Yeah. With my whole family -aunt, grandmother, uncles and all," he replied. I saw how he always managed not to mention his mother.

"Your dad's siblings?" I asked, hoping his mother might come up.

To my disappointment, he said, "Yeah. You know, Evenna reminds of my aunt Posy."

"How?" I asked, curious.

"Red hair, green eyes. Boys wrapped around her finger, talkative," Ray said.

"You don't make her sound very old," I said, smiling.

Ray laughed. "That's because she's not that old. She's fourteen years younger than my dad." Ray paused. "So, are you planning on going to the party?"

I was hoping that the subject wouldn't come up again. I thought for a moment, hesitating slightly before saying, "Yeah, I guess so." Maybe it would worth going if Ray was there.

We fell into our routine of Ray hunting and me attempting to with Ray's help. We set up a line of six snares, set apart at thirty to fifty foot intervals, stretching from just outside of our meeting place to deeper into the woods. After that, Ray carved some more targets for me into some of the wider trees trunks, and helped me work on my shooting skills. This time, with some positioning adjustments from Ray, I was able to shoot just inside of the circle, and then halfway to the bull's eye.

"See?" Ray said, pulling another arrow out of a tree. "I told you you'd be able to shoot straight by the end of the week. Look at how far you've already gotten. You'd better be up to skinning that rabbit." I shoved him playfully, laughing.

"Why don't you go check on the snares? I'll finish taking out all of the arrows," he said, gesturing to the remaining four tree trunks. I nodded, heading off towards where we had set up the snare line.

The first two hadn't caught anything, but the third one had caught a small rabbit. I tried to carefully take it out of the tangled wires, but I just got it more deeply embedded into the coil and gave up, moving onto the fourth snare. At the fourth one, there was a small animal trapped inside, and I bent down to look at it, when I saw a wild dog eyeing the snare from a thicket of trees across from me. I tried not to panic as I carefully brought the hand I had set on the animal back to my side. Not making eye contact with the dog, I slowly walked backwards, but I stepped on a patch of fallen, dried leaves, and the rustling sound seemed to irritate the dog and it came barreling at me.

Trying not to scream, I ran as fast I could in the other direction, back towards where I had come from. I could hear twigs snapping and leaves crunching as the dog followed me, and I ran blindly, starting to scream for Ray after the dog caught up with me enough that I could feel it's murky breath on my ankles. I could hear Ray calling out to me from somewhere, but he was too far away for me to make out what he was saying. I dodged branches and rocks as best I could, and I even took a few random sharp turns to get the dog off of my back, but it didn't seem to tire and was certainly not giving up its pursuit for whatever reason.

I screamed for Ray until my voice was hoarse and I was sure my throat was bleeding. I swallowed and stayed quiet for a while, trying to focus on keeping my feet moving one in front of the other. When I felt like I was surely going to collapse, I could hear Ray clearly calling my name, sounding worried. I shouted for him one last time and I heard a small _whoosh_. The dog fell to the ground behind me, and I stopped running, my legs flying out under me. I lurched forward and Ray caught me, holding me close to him and supporting me. I would've been extremely nervous and uncomfortable with our close proximity if I hadn't been so utterly terrified and tired and dizzy.

"You okay?" he whispered into my ear, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm...good..," I managed to get out, my cheek pressed against Ray's cheek. "Some water... would...be nice." Laughing shakily, Ray gently set me down on the ground and got a water bottle out of his pack.

I couldn't see completely straight and when I grabbed at air instead of the bottle a few times, Ray sat down beside me and held the bottle up to my lips. "There," he said, tipping the bottle slightly. I drank greedily, and after a few minutes my dizziness ebbed and I felt better enough to walk back to the clearing. With Ray at my side but not quite touching me, we slowly made our way back to the clearing, and when we got there, Ray sat me down against a tree insisted that he take me home.

"No," I said, knowing exactly what would happen if I came home with Ray at my side. "My parents'll ground me for life."

"But you look like you're going to pass out any second," Ray pointed out.

"No. If I go back now with you, I'll never be able to come back here."

"We could always meet up in town or something," Ray said, and for the first time I realized this had become more than just hunting lessons. Ray and I had actually become friends.

"It wouldn't be the same. I like the woods, besides. I'd rather not get banned from coming here," I said, and Ray nodded hesitantly.

"Fine. But if you pass out on me, I'm going to have to carry you home," Ray said, smiling slightly.

"You wouldn't dare, Hawthorne," I said, leaning my head back against the tree.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Another Fire**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

* * *

><p>Essa stood in my bedroom the next evening, a medium-sized canvas bag in her hands. She opened my closet door, pushing away the shirts that hung in the front to access the neglected dresses in back. She took them all out of the closet and laid them out on the bed.<p>

"Are you already planning my outfit for the party?" I asked, walking over to stand beside her as she inspected each garment. "I mean, isn't this kind of unnecessary? The party's next week."

Essa turned to look at me briefly, a small smile playing on her lips. "The party's at around eleven. Tonight."

_"What?" _

"If I gave you the actual day of the party, you'd probably overthink the whole situation and end up not going," Essa replied. After a few moments, she chose a fairly simple, lightly shimmering turquoise dress, cinched at the waist with a black ribbon. Rummaging around at the bottom of my closet, she emerged with a pair of slightly raised black ballerina shoes. "Put these on," she said, handing me them. I just stood there, looking at her in disbelief.

"Wait, I have to think-"

Essa waved me off. "Don't worry about our covers. You're sleeping over at my house tonight. I already talked to your parents."

"But-"

"We'll go to my house and take it from there," she said, grabbing my forearm and half-dragging me out of the room.

She led me to the kitchen, where my father was trying out a new pastry recipe and my mother was running around the kitchen, grabbing things for him and helping with small tasks.

"Mr. Mellark?" Essa said. My father turned around, bits of batter on his cheeks.

"Are you girls ready to go?" he asked, smiling warmly.

Essa nudged me. "Yeah," I said. "I have my pajamas and toothbrush and everything."

"Okay then. Have fun, girls," my dad, immediately going back to his batter.

* * *

><p>"Good night girls."<p>

Essa's father stood in the doorway to check in on us one last time before going to sleep himself. Essa and I were covered up to our chins in carefully laid blankets. Essa's face was turned to the wall so that her father wouldn't catch the bit of make-up she had put on.

"Good night," we echoed, listening intently as his footsteps disappeared down the hall. A door opened, then closed, and there was a small _click _as he shut the lights off. Essa and I were completely still in the darkness, waiting until loud snores were drifting away, and then slowly getting out of our cocoons of sheets.

"Are we going to use the window?" I asked her. We hadn't exactly planned out everything in detail.

Essa looked at me like I was crazy. "Obviously not. We're just going to go out the front door."

We went down the stairs as quietly as we could, our dresses swishing slightly with our movements.

As soon as we had put our shoes on, Essa opened the door just enough for us to get through, and when we had both stepped out into the summer night, she gently closed it behind us.

"Key?" I asked. Essa crouched down and lifted the doormat, revealing the family's extra key. She picked it up and took off the chain she was wearing, and strung the key onto it along with the other charms.

We were silent after that as Essa led me towards Evenna's house.

* * *

><p>The house was at the outskirts of town, in a spacious area draped with willow trees. As Essa stood at the front door, ringing the bell furiously so it could be heard over the noise inside, I marveled at the Fields' garden. It was huge, overflowing with all different types of flowers, some of which I recognized from my parents' plant book. My father would love it.<p>

A slight jolt went through me at the thought of my father, and I turned my gaze away from the garden and settled my eyes on the front door. A few seconds later, it swung open and Evenna stood in the doorway, partially blocking the scene inside.

"Hey Essa. Ruella," she said, acknowledging both of us with a nod. She moved to the side, indicating for us to go in.

Essa stepped through the entrance first, and I followed her, hearing Evenna close the door behind us. The house wasn't packed, but it was still crowded. There were small groups of girls sitting around the room, talking to each other animatedly, and then there were larger circles of boys and girls, playing some drinking game. The rest of the boys were leaning against walls and laughing, paper cups in hand. After a quick scan of the room, I saw that Ray was already there, and he was one of the people playing the drinking games.

"Let's go over there," Essa said, tugging my arm in the direction of one of the gossiping groups of girls.

"No, um, you go ahead," I replied. "I'll go over there." I pointed in the general direction of Ray.

Essa shrugged. "Alright. I'll talk to you soon." I nodded, starting to go towards Ray but changing my mind at the last second. What if he didn't want to see me? He looked pretty occupied with whatever they were playing. I turned around, opening my mouth to say something to Essa, but she was already gone. I bit my lip and hesitated before walking towards him.

He looked up before I even reached him. "Hey, Ruella."

"Hey," I said, and he patted the spot beside him on the carpet. I sat down cautiously, tucking my legs under me carefully and tugging down my dress. "So, what're you guys doing?"

"Well, nothing right now. We just finished the last round of the game," he said, his voice crisp unlike the others around us.

"Have you drank anything?" I asked, gesturing around at the others. "I mean, everyone else is pretty much drunk."

Ray smiled broadly. "I'm good at this game."

I laughed.

"Do you play this back in District 2?"

"Yeah. Practice makes perfect, right?" He chuckled and got up slowly, stretching briefly before offering me a hand. I took it and hauled myself up.

"Where to?" I asked, smoothing down my dress.

"Kitchen," he said, tilting his head in the room's direction. "I'm hungry."

I followed him into the kitchen. It was needlessly grand, as my mother would probably describe it. It had marble countertops littered with glass bottles, a state-of-the-art stove, countless appliances, and a spacious table in the middle, covered in different snacks. Ray headed straight for the table, grabbing a plate and piling small portions of food on it. I took my own plate and took a handful of chips, nibbling on one as we walked back out.

"You know you don't have to stay with me," I said to Ray as he looked for a place to sit.

He barely glanced at me. "I know."

"Really. If you want to go talk to... the other guys or something, I'll just go find Essa."

"I'd much rather talk with you. No offense to the other guys, but they're pretty scary when they're drunk." He paused. "Come on, there's some space by that couch." He took hold of my forearm, tugging at it and leading me over to the space he found. We both sat down on the carpet, putting our plates in our laps and watching everyone.

"Do you have parties like this back in District 2?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the now-dancing drunks.

"Nope," Ray replied, shoving his now-empty plate away. Grinning, he said, "They're a million times better than this. Maybe if you visit sometime, I could take you to one."

Before I could reply, I heard someone approaching us.

"Oh gosh, it's Ray," a girl exclaimed. I looked up to see two blondes wearing miniscule skirts. "Hi! I'm Amara, and this is Kase."

"Hey," Ray said in reply, slowly standing up. I opted to stay sitting, keeping myself busy with munching on the last of my chips.

"I heard you're from District 2. Your dad's Gale Hawthorne, right?"

The conversation turned into something about television shows, and I tuned myself out. As I raised my last chip to my mouth, I saw a small group of guys and girls approaching us. I didn't care much until they were right in front of us and I realized that one of the boys was holding the latest issue of the _Panem Circus_. One of the girls standing by Ray stopped talking long enough to see the group behind them.

"Oh, hey, Lance," she said, sounding the tiniest bit uncomfortable as she addressed the boy with the magazine.

"Um, hi," Ray said, extending a hand towards him. Lance looked at him with distaste, ignoring his gesture. Ray shot me a look and dropped his arm back to his side with a shrug. I stood up.

"So, you're Gale Hawthorne's son, right?" Lance asked, a note of arrogance in his voice.

"Yeah," Ray said, sounding the slightest bit suspicious. The boys in the group laughed. Ray raised an eyebrow. "Why do you find that so funny?"

Lance ignored his question. "You know that Ruella here is Katniss Everdeen's daughter, right?" he asked, gesturing towards me.

"It's common knowledge, isn't it?" Ray replied evenly.

Lance smirked. "I find it kind of funny that you two are together-"

"We are _not _together," I said firmly, finally speaking up. I glared at Lance. He rolled his eyes at me. Gritting my teeth, I opened my mouth to say something more, but he cut me off.

"-considering this."

Lance shoved the magazine into Ray's hands. Ray laughed. "Is it really necessary for me to read some gossip magazine? What do you want to show me? Some compatibility quiz?"

"Page seventeen."

My stomach sank at the number. _Seventeen._ So Lance wanted Ray to see the article about Gale Hawthorne and my mother. Ray flipped through the magazine swiftly, frowning slightly as he arrived at the right page.

"You wanted to show me a picture of two people kissing," he said conclusively, looking up.

"Those two people are _your_ dad and _her_ mom," Lance said, pointing a thumb at me.

"So what does that have to do with us?"

"Well, I think a lot of us have noticed that you and Ruella look like each other," Lance started. Some of the people in his little group nodded in needless confirmation, grins on their faces.

"What're you suggesting?" I asked defensively, balling my hand into a fist.

Lance looked straight at me. "I'm suggesting that you two are half-siblings," he said bluntly.

I felt my face heat up. "Who are you to suggest that, huh?" I said, my voice loud. I took a step forward. "You don't know _anything, _you son of a-"

"Lance!" I recognized the voice as Evenna's. People parted so she could make her way to us. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Ruella," Ray hissed at me, grabbing my forearm. I shook myself free.

"That asshole over there," I said, jabbing my finger violently at Lance, "is saying that my mother cheated on my father." I moved closer to Lance, shoving him in the chest.

"Ruella!" Ray said into my ear, pulling me back.

"What? So you're saying that it's okay for him to... oh." I trailed off as I noticed the crowd we had attracted. Almost everyone had gathered around us, and the ones who hadn't were listening intently to the argument.

Lance laughed, and I had the overwhelming urge to punch him. Ray sensed this and held on more tightly to me. "You can't say that it's not a credible idea. I mean, look at both of you. Does anyone disagree that they look like they can be brother and sister?" He raised his voice at the end, addressing the whole room.

"Stop it. Both of you. Right now," Evenna said, looking shaken at the idea of a fight in her house.

"Shut up, Lance," Ray said, his voice warning. His grip was tense, and I could tell he was _this close _to losing it.

"And this article shows that it was quite possible, because Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne definitely had a thing for each other."

"Lance!" Evenna said, her eyes wide.

"Shut the hell _up_!" Ray shouted. In a few blurred movements, he had Lance's shirt bunched up in his fist, his other hand ready to strike. "You worthless-"

"And that would make Ruella and Ray's little relationship ince-"

Ray struck Lance's jaw before he could the word out. The small _crack_ resounded through the completely still house. His eyes clouded with fury, Ray raised his hand and struck Lance a second time, and his head to jerk back. Blood trickled down his face.

"Oh, god," Evenna said quietly. She quickly stepped in between Ray and Lance, successfully stopping Ray from striking him again. Someone in Lance's posse pulled him back and handed him a handful of tissues for his bleeding nose. Evenna hesitated for a second before racing off to fetch more napkins and ice.

"You know it's probably true," Lance said through gritted teeth. Before anyone could stop him, Ray stooped down and landed another blow to his stomach. Lance doubled over, and a few guys stepped in front of him as a measly barrier.

"Hiding behind your lackeys?" Ray said, his voice dripping with venom. "I'm not done with you yet, you piece of shit," he hissed. I grabbed Ray's arm and pulled him back.

"We're leaving. Right now."

Everyone parted to make way for us, and when we were finally outside of the stuffy house, Ray asked me, "Where to?" He sounded incredibly pissed off, and I knew all he wanted to do was go back in there and beat Lance.

"The woods," I answered immediately.

We walked away from the house calmly enough, but once I was sure no one would be able to see us from the windows, we broke into a run.


End file.
